Because of its location as a mountainous island in a sea of arid
grassland, the Chiricahua Range affords a haven for a multitude of
plants and animals of many varieties. Winter snows and summer rains
result in springs and small streams. Dense vegetation covers the shaded
canyon bottoms and the cool north slopes of the higher elevations. In
contrast, south exposures feel the full heat of the summer sun and have
plants characteristic of the desert. Red-stemmed manzanitas and
bark-shedding madrones rub branches with the chalky-white limbs of the
sycamore and the feathery gray foliage of the Arizona cypress. Green
slopes, covered by chaparral of scrub oak and manzanita, face open
hillsides dotted with a desert vegetation of yuccas, century plants, and
cactuses. Seasonal changes bring with them many varieties of
wildflowers.
Arizona whitetail deer are numerous in the Chiricahuas, and in the
monument, where they are protected, they become accustomed to man and
are frequently seen. Coatimundi and peccary are increasing in numbers.
Rodents are common, as are birds of many species. Each vegetative belt
and plant association has its own distinctive animal population, some of
which are unique because of the relative and long-established isolation
of the Chiricahua Range.